A High Court in Kogi State sentences Jibrin Halilu to death after convicting him of offences connected to the abduction and killing of a hotel proprietor in Obajana. The court finds Halilu guilty of conspiracy and kidnapping under provisions of the Kogi State Kidnapping and Other Related Offences Prohibition Law, 2023. According to prosecutors, Halilu and other members of an armed group storm Ever Ready Hotel in Angwa-Tiv, Obajana, and abduct the proprietor, Uche Andrew Offo, on 23 March 2023. Sources cited in reporting say the victim’s family paid a ransom of N2.5 million as demanded, but the kidnappers still killed Offo. One DSS-linked account adds that the victim identified Halilu as his neighbour, and that information contributed to the decision to kill him. The DSS also states that further investigations linked Halilu and his gang to another kidnapping case in April 2023. Media reports describe the prosecution as handled by the Department of State Services (DSS), and the judge who delivered the sentence is named as Abdul Nicodemus Awulu.